Beach Ball Comics Archives - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources

Beach Ball Comics in Anaheim, California, has recovered seven of the 11 high-end comics stolen in a Tuesday night burglary after police arrested a suspect an hour away in Topanga.

The store put out a call for help Wednesday afternoon on its Facebook page following a smash-and-grab that resulted in the theft of the comics, some of which dated back to 1940: The Amazing Spider-Man #1-2, The Amazing Spider-Man #1 signed by Stan Lee, The Avengers #4, Batman #4 signed by Jerry Robinson, Giant-Size X-Men #1, Green Lantern #76, House of Secrets #92, Incredible Hulk #102, Incredible Hulk #181, and Superman #33, signed by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. According to the post, the suspect smashed the front door and display case, and was likely in and out in less than three minutes.

Luckily a little later Wednesday, a suspect was apprehended and Beach Ball Comics owner Thomas Gaul was able to retrieve all of the books except the Lee-signed Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Green Lantern and Superman.

“Thanks to the help of Paul at House of Secrets in Burbank and the quick thinking Ed & Nick at Collectors Paradise in Winnetka, we were able to coordinate police action to take a suspect into [custody] today,” he wrote. “[…] The culprit removed the CGC SS Batman from the case, so we expect the missing Green Lantern and Avengers books ended up the same way.”